Well, shit man...everyone says to "stay high" when traversing along Shuksan arm. How high?
Going in, we generally followed Jim Nelson's description, that is, take the road from lodge to clearcut & proceed until you reach forest. There was a faint trail up to this point, but beyond that things just got nasty. Difficult creek crossings forced us to alternatively lose or gain elevation...we burned hours struggling though this bit. Finally we reached the snow in the basin but still had to endure yet another unavoidable bushwhack section. We tried to avoid the second of the two bushwhacks on the return by taking a series of parallel snow fingers/creeks up high on Shuksan arm. We ended up about 1000ft above a ski run & hiked back down a ridge between canyons & cliffy terrain into what I think is the lower boundary of the popular backcountry ski area there (Hemispheres?). We crossed a creek bed, hiked briefly back up the other side & ended up underneath the chairlift. If it wasn't for the rain greasing down the steep heather, this approach variation seems reasonable, but with much elevation gain & loss.